Dimitar Petkov – liberation fighter, politician and statesman

published on 10/31/13 11:17 AM

On November 2 we mark the 155th anniversary since the birth of renowned Bulgarian politician Dimitar Petkov, Prime Minister in the period 1906-1907. Petkov is the only Bulgarian Prime Minister killed while he was head of the executive power.

He was born in 1858 in the village of Bashkioy in the Russian Empire, where a number of Bulgarians fled from the Ottoman Empire. His ancestors are from the region in Karlovo in Central Bulgaria. He participated in the liberation struggle of Bulgaria against the Ottoman Empire and was part of the company of Bulgarian voevod Panayot Hitov, which fought in the Serbian-Turkish war of 1876. In 1877 he joined the Russian-Turkish liberation war. In the dramatic fight for the Shipka pass he was badly injured and lost his left hand. Dimitar Petkov received an order personally from Russian Emperor Alexander II. This is an interesting fact as later Petkov would become a firm supporter of liberalism and opponent to the influence of Russia in Bulgaria.
After Bulgaria’s Liberation in 1878 he started working in the Ministry of Interior. In 1881 Bulgarian Knyaz Batenberg suspended the democratic Tarnovo Constitution and established an authoritarian regime. As a member of the Liberal Party Petkov opposed the regime and in 1882 he was sent to jail. After the end of the regime he worked for reestablishing the constitution. In 1884 he was elected an MP. He became close to Stefan Stambolov and joined his People’s Liberal Party. During the years he was also an editor of a number of newspapers, protecting Stambolov’s policy and the western political orientation of Bulgaria.

During the rule of Stambolov in the years 1888-1893, Petkov was the Mayor of Sofia. He started brave urban planning projects, including building large boulevards, electrification and others. During his term in office Sofia started shedding its oriental looks. At that time a number of people in the city demanded that the Bania Bashi mosque downtown should be demolished. “We should show that we are a people worthy of its freedom. The mosque must stay, as a symbol of culture for the next generation,” Petkov said. This way the ancient building was saved.

After the death of Stambolov in 1894 Dimitar Petkov continued his political career and headed the People’s Liberal Party in 1901. In 1906 he was elected Prime Minister of Bulgaria. This was a controversial period as his party firmly supported the growing authoritarian rule of Knyaz Ferdinand. In 1906 Petkov crushed a strike of the railway workers by replacing them with soldiers from the transport divisions of the army. In 1907 students booed Ferdinand while opening the National Theatre in Sofia. As a result the university was closed for six months and laws that banned criticism against the head of state were passed. On March 11 downtown Sofia Petkov was shot by an unemployed and psychologically unstable state official and later died.

Dimitar Petkov’s sons – Petko and Nikola also pursued political careers and became leaders of the Agricultural Union. Both inherited the energy and the strong will of his father. They died violent deaths, too. Petko Petkov became a victim of a political assassination in 1924 during the rule of the government of professor Tsankov. Nikola Petkov, a strong supporter of parliamentary democracy suffered repressions from the pro-Soviet government in Bulgaria in 1947. He was falsely accused of spying and sentenced to death.

English version: Alexander Markov

По публикацията работи: Veneta Pavlova

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Dimitar Petkov – liberation fighter, politician and statesman

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